The Shelby Township Board of Trustees voted to suspend Police Chief Robert J. Shelide for 30 days without pay Tuesday night as discipline for controversial social media posts that seemed to glorify police brutality. The vote came after the board listened to several hours of comments from dozens of people who weighed in on whether he should be fired for the tweets from his personal Twitter account. More than 250 people tuned into the meeting via the virtual meeting app Zoom, some with signs and posters reading "Tolerating racism is racism" and "fire police chief Shelide now." Many were residents of the Macomb County community while others came from outside the township. Shelide’s defenders pointed to his record as police chief, saying he should be judged on his actions not his words in a few social media posts. But others said his words reflect his beliefs and he should not be running the township police department. More than four hours into the meeting, the board voted 5-2 on a motion by Trustee Lynn Wilhelm to suspend Shelide without pay, from June 17 through July 17, and require he undergo cultural awareness training within 60 days as a condition of his employment. Supervisor Rick Stathakis and Trustee Vince Viviano voted against the motion. Stathakis earlier in the meeting said he thought the chief should be fired. Stathakis' said Shelide tweets have raised public doubts about the police department and do not uphold values of law and order, diversity, integrity, honesty and accountability. He said Shelide "clearly cannot be trusted to enforce the law impartially, as much as he may try.". "Now in saying these things, Chief Shelide has let down Shelby Township. And he's let down America. Our country stands for law and order. That means we do not decide for ourselves how to enforce a law. We do not kill or maim to send a message. Rather we insist that even as we punish criminals for their wrong doing, we treat them humanly. We do not tolerate vengeance, we demand justice. And justice demands uncompromising and impartiality to all people regardless of their ethnic background, regardless of their gender, regardless of their social standing." Defending the chief, township Treasurer Michael Flynn said he thought Shelide chose his words very poorly and violated the township’s social media policy, for which he should be disciplined for the embarrassment he brought to the township, but not fired. "I don't believe for a second that Chief Shelide is a racist and if I did, I'd vote to fire him and I'd be leading the charge," Flynn said. The Twitter account in question has been deleted but screenshots circulating online show tweets that seem to promote police taking drastic action against those participating in the current anti-police brutality protests rocking the nation. "Trump threatening to deploy the military. I have a better idea: unleash the real cops and let them take care of these barbarians. I promise it will be over in 24 hours. Cops are crippled by politicians and the (what appears to be the word) media,” one tweet said. Shelide issued a public apology on June 4 after the tweets were publicly circulated and the township board put him on paid administrative leave. "While an apology is insufficient and an insult to the gravity of my comments, I humbly and respectfully ask for the courtesy of forgiveness to those I have offended, to my department and more importantly to those I am sworn to serve,” he said in a statement issued to the Free Press. On Tuesday night, he told the board his comments have been shifted and taken out of context. He said he is not a racist, but the videos he saw of people rioting and then seeing “my brothers in blue being assassinated” filled him with “anguish and despair.” He conceded “different words could have been used.” "We are trained to protect lives, and we would have. I know my comments have been viewed as insensitive to some, and I acknowledge that. My comments were directed at rioters who are engaging in criminal behavior," Shelide said. " Detroit Police Chief James Craig last week expressed concern over Shelide's posts and said the chief should be fired. “There is that old adage of ‘tone is set from the top,’ so if this is how he feels, how do the men and women in his department feel?” Craig said in an interview with FOX 2 Detroit Friday. “If he can just publicly and blatantly make statements like that, he is a disappointment to myself and all of my colleagues across the country who wear the badge of chief of police.” During Tuesday’s meeting, many of those who defended Shelide said they did not agree with the contents of the tweets, but argued he should be judged on his body of work and professional record as police chief. Steven Schmidt, who said he is a business owner and a Shelby Township resident since 1961, told the board he understands the outrage around the comments but feels the chief saved his family in a time of crisis. “The chief directed officers, formulated a plan, and the nightmare was over,” Schmidt said of the crisis his family went through. “Chief Shelide protected, and in my opinion, saved my family. “Words, some have claimed the chief is a racist, that his tweets were racist. However, there is no conclusion that supports that. Let's look at 34 years of action." Daniel Vanlacken, who said he is a Southfield police officer who previously worked with Shelide for many years, said Shelide is not a racist and believes the issue is being twisted by the public. But other said the beliefs Selide expressed in the tweets is cause for concern given his position of power. Abbie N, who said she lives on the border of Shelby Township in Sterling Heights, said his Tweets reflect an opinion someone with power and authority should not hold. "His comments were despicable and they reflect beliefs that cannot be held by a person of authority. People have said that the chief's comments are not a big deal because of the First Amendment, which they clearly misunderstand, and because he was just sharing his opinion as a public citizen," she said. "The problem is that this particular private citizen is the chief of police and is in a position of authority, and is therefore able to act on his opinion with the full weight of the law behind him. That's not OK." Mary N. urged the board to fire Shelide after she said she heard distressing experiences from people of color on previous meeting calls. "If you have even one person of color say they feel unsafe here because of their skin tone, then you have a race problem," Mary said. "You may not see the racist implications of the chief's comments, you may not feel unsafe here... this isn't about you, it's about us. All of us. And if any one of us feels unsafe, then our entire community has a problem." Free Press staff reporter Christina Hall contributed to this report. Meredith Spelbring is a news intern with the Detroit Free Press. Reach her at mspelbring@freepress.com or on Twitter @mere0415.